East Florida (Spanish: Florida Oriental) was a colony of Great Britain from 1763 to 1783 and a province of the Spanish Empire from 1783 to 1821. The British gained control over Spanish Florida in 1763 as part of the Treaty of Paris that ended the Seven Years' War. Deciding that the colony was too large to administer as a single unit, British officials divided Florida into two colonies separated by the Apalachicola River: the colony of East Florida, with its capital located in St. Augustine; and West Florida, with its capital located in Pensacola. East Florida was much larger and comprised the bulk of the former Spanish colony and most of the current state of Florida. It had also been the most populated region of Spanish Florida, but before control was transferred to Britain, most residents – including virtually everyone in St. Augustine – left the territory, with most migrating to Cuba.
Britain tried to attract settlers to the two Floridas without much success. The sparsely populated colonies were invited to send representatives to the Continental Congress but chose not to do so, and they remained loyal to Great Britain during the American Revolutionary War. However, as part of the 1783 treaty that ended the American Revolutionary War and marked Britain's defeat, Britain ceded both Floridas to Spain. The two colonies remained separate, and their boundary was shifted eastward to the Suwannee River.
By the early 1800s, Spain had shown little interest in, and limited capacity for, administering either of the two Floridas beyond their capital cities. American settlers entered the territory without authorization, provoking conflict with the Seminoles, a new Native American culture formed largely by Indigenous refugees from the American Southeast. During the War of 1812, American forces occupied West Florida. American settlers calling themselves the "Patriots" declared the short-lived and unrecognized Republic of East Florida at Amelia Island. The U.S. government soon renounced this action and ordered the return of the occupied land to Spain.
Border disputes between the United States and the Seminoles tribes in Florida continued after the war. By 1817, much of Spanish West Florida had been occupied and annexed by the United States; the territory later became parts of Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi. After a decade of escalating border disputes and American incursions, Spain ceded both Floridas to the United States in the Adams–Onís Treaty of 1819. The United States formally took possession in 1821, in exchange for renouncing any claims to Spanish Texas. In 1822, all of East Florida and the remaining portions of West Florida were merged into a single Florida Territory, with borders closely resembling those of the present-day state of Florida.
Under the terms of the 1763 Treaty of Paris, which ended the Seven Years' War (the French and Indian War), Spain ceded Spanish Florida to Britain. At the same time, Britain received all of French Louisiana east of the Mississippi River, with the exception of New Orleans, from France. Determining the new territory too large to administer as one unit, Britain divided its new southeastern acquisitions into two new colonies separated by the Apalachicola River: East Florida, with its capital in the old Spanish city of St. Augustine, and West Florida, with its capital at Pensacola. However, in the Spanish evacuation most of the population departed following the signing of the treaty, with the entirety of St. Augustine emigrating to Cuba.
The settlement of East Florida was heavily linked in London to the same interests that controlled Nova Scotia. The East Florida Society of London and the Nova Scotia Society of London had many overlapping members, and Council frequently followed their suggestions on the granting of lands to powerful merchant interests in London.
Perhaps it is strange to think of such dissimilar geographic areas with such opposing climates as having much in common. But if one considers naval and military strategy, one can see that these areas have a common significance, especially when viewed from London by the ministry. Halifax (Nova Scotia) was the command post for both the admiral and general in charge of the American forces.... St. Augustine evoked the same strategic considerations. These posts have been described as the two centers of strength to which the British Army was withdrawn in the late 1760s.
The apportionment of lands in the new colonies fell to the same group of English and Scottish entrepreneurs and merchant interests, led chiefly by the Scottish slave trader Richard Oswald and the British general James Grant, who would later become governor of East Florida. A list of the grantees in both Florida and Canada shows that the plums fell to a well-connected—and inter-connected—group. Lincoln's Inn barrister Levett Blackborne, grandson of Sir Richard Levett, a powerful merchant and Lord Mayor of London, came in for grants of 20,000 acres (81 km2) in both locales, for instance. Other aristocrats, nobles, and merchants did the same.
The most powerful lubricant between the East Florida speculators and the Nova Scotia speculators was Col. Thomas Thoroton of Flintham, Nottinghamshire. Thoroton, the stepbrother of Levett Blackborne, had married an illegitimate daughter of the Duke of Rutland and often lived at Belvoir Castle, where he acted as principal agent to the Duke, who, along with his son, the Marquis of Granby, were heavily involved in overseas ventures. Thoroton frequently acted as the go-between for Richard Oswald and James Grant, particularly after those two gave up their Nova Scotia Grants to focus on East Florida, where a drumbeat of steady speculation (particularly from Andrew Turnbull and William Stork) had fanned the flames of interest in London. It was not until March 1781 that the Governor of East Florida, Patrick Tonyn, called elections for a provincial legislature.
East Florida remained loyal to Great Britain during the American Revolution. The colony became a haven for Loyalist refugees and fugitive slaves fleeing to British lines from the Southern Colonies during the American War of Independence, and several military units were established by Loyalists in East Florida.
Spain participated indirectly in the war as an ally of France and captured Pensacola from the British in 1781. In the 1783 Treaty of Paris, which ended the war, the British ceded both Floridas to Spain. The same treaty recognized the independence of the United States, directly to the north.
"Governor of British East Florida" was an appointed position. A legislative council did exist which shared power with the governor. The governor could appoint officials but they needed to be approved by the British government. These positions included: an attorney general, chief justice, coroner, etc. An official could be suspended but needed to get the council's consent. A court relating to maritime cases, the East Florida Court of Vice Admiralty was created in April 1771. The British province of East Florida had a royal seal, as did the province of West Florida. The seal for East Florida had on one side a depiction of a fortified town and harbor with the Latin motto Moresque Viris et Moenia Ponet ("He will establish customs for men, and walls").
During the period of British rule in East Florida, the black population came to outnumber the white population in the province by a ratio of 2 to 1. The ratio of blacks to whites in East Florida was lower than in British West Florida but higher than in the other southern British colonies. Those who were white in Florida generally served in the military or worked as overseers, artisans, or merchants. There were very few white yeomen farmers. White residents generally lived in or around St. Augustine with an exception being generally made for overseers and those who resided in New Smyrna. Due to the poor treatment of Minorcans in New Smyrna, some left for St. Augustine, where a large number of them lived in a section of the city known as the "Minorcan Quarter" or the "Greek Quarter".